Mankind's fascination with painting and carving images dates back to the dawn of history. Virtually every culture has employed some form of carving or painting as an outlet of artistic expression. Indeed, images have been carved, etched or painted on a wide variety of materials including wood, stone, ceramics, metal and the like to lend permanence to the image created.
In some instances, however, images are carved in a material that is not intended to last. One such example is the carving of images or decorative designs into the fleshy shell of a vegetable that is used as a holiday decoration, a theme decoration, a center piece or other temporary decorative item. Perhaps the most significant example of the use of carved designs in vegetables occurs for the holiday event known as Halloween. Here, decorative designs are typically carved through the fleshy shell of pumpkins, and the interior of the pumpkin is illuminated by a candle or other light often to give a playfully spooky appearance to the image provided. At the present time, Halloween is one of the fastest growing of all holidays both in the United States and other countries.
In the past, the standard method of carving pumpkins simply involved the use of a sharp knife to form individual facial elements in a pumpkin shell so as to make a jack-o-lantern face. Alternatively, portions of the pumpkin skin were scraped away thereby creating a color contrast that defined the image to be perceived. If sufficient skin of the pumpkin was removed, the interior lighting of such a pumpkin would create contrasting translucent and opaque regions that would produce a desired image.
The intricate carving of pumpkins on a wide scale basis came about in the mid-1980's as a result of the introduction of a pumpkin carving kit by the assignee of the present invention. The elements of this kit are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,114 entitled Pumpkin Carving Kit issued May 9, 1989 to Bardeen. In the kit described in the '114 Patent provides elaborate patterns that are transferred onto the surface of a pumpkin by poking small holes through the patterns. After the holes are made, saws and drills are used for the cutting of intricate features through the shell of the pumpkin. Thus, extremely elaborate designs and images became possible even for those having only basic artistic skills.
While the pumpkin carving kits exemplified by the '114 Patent have had wide commercial success and have greatly increased the enjoyment of the festive holiday for many persons, these kits nonetheless have a slight drawback when the "pumpkin artist" is a small child. Relatively young children may experience some difficulty in transferring the pattern onto the surface of the pumpkin prior to carving the same. Also, the use of relatively sharp, fine toothed saws is sometimes difficult for such children and may be uncomfortable even though the tools do not pose any substantial danger to the user.
Therefore, although the pumpkin carving kit described in the '114 Patent revolutionized pumpkin carving, there remains a need for an improved method and apparatus, which may be in kit form, that is more accessible to younger children. The present invention is directed to meeting such need in an effort to expand the imagination and creativity of this younger group.